


As The World Falls Down

by Ultra



Series: As If By Magic [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, Cursed Storybrooke, Dark Magic, Deleted Scenes, During Regina's First Dark Curse, F/M, Goodbyes, Love, Pre-Regina's First Dark Curse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-02
Updated: 2012-10-02
Packaged: 2020-03-02 05:25:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18804613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultra/pseuds/Ultra
Summary: Deleted Scene for 'As If By Magic' - The curse descends on the Dark Castle; Belle & Rumpelstiltskin must say goodbye.





	As The World Falls Down

**Author's Note:**

> originally written for florencia7 on Livejournal for a prompt meme.

Belle looked out of the window at the sound of rumbling in the distance. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw it. A dense black and purple cloud, crackling with energy she had barely known before. Rumpelstiltskin had power that could do such things, she knew, but this was not his work. This was so evil and dark.

In a panic, she ran from the room, screaming his name. If anyone could save them, it would be him. She crashed through the door to his lab, stood in the entrance, gasping and panting from so many stairs taken in leaps and bounds.

“You’ve seen it,” he said without ever turning from the window.

“What is it?” she asked desperately. “Please, tell me.”

“Regina... the Queen,” he muttered, turning at last to look upon her panicked face. “She has cast a spell, a curse. It is coming to take us all away, dearie.”

Belle was scared, Rumpel knew it before she ever came crashing through the door and he hated it. All this time he had denied her, because he knew this day was coming. Now he had nothing much left to lose, except for everything.

“Come here, Belle,” he gestured her forward, and she ran into his arms.

It had been too long since they’d been close. He had kept her at a distance all these weeks, made her promise not to speak of anything she felt for him, anything that happened before her capture and return. There were no rules now, it couldn’t matter. The curse rumbled closer and it would engulf them both. Belle would no longer exist but be torn asunder. A new name, a new identity. Her dear Rumpelstiltskin would mean nothing to her, and yet she could not know it. The true cruelty for him would be that he remembered all, saw her face and recalled Belle rather than whatever woman she became.

“Where are we going? What will happen to us?” she asked, trying desperately not to cry as she clung to him.

“A land without magic,” said Rumpelstiltskin softly, rubbing her back, awkwardly trying to bring any comfort he could.

The darkness was coming fast, and he pushed her away enough to see her face then. Their eyes met and tears streaked down her cheeks as she realised this was some kind of goodbye.

“Belle, whatever happens...” he began, his nerve going even now as the storm made flashes beyond the window, lighting up the dim room.

“I know,” she nodded, sending more tears cascading down her face. “I love you too,” she swore, holding on tight as the cloud smashed through the window.

Rumpelstiltskin covered her head with his arms as they were both blown off balance and onto their knees on the stone floor. He thought Belle might have screamed, or maybe it was him, it was too hard to tell. After that he laughed, because this had been what he wanted, and now he was so torn. He would gain from this curse but he would lose so much at the same time.

The castle walls blew in, the roof already gone. The wind was cold, the storm vicious and ugly. Lightning blinded Rumpelstiltskin until he was forced to close his eyes against it. Nevertheless, he held Belle tight until the last moment.

When he woke suddenly to the new world, there was a knocking at the front door of a house he barely knew.

“Mr Gold?” called a voice he knew. “It’s me; Rose.”

He rushed to open the door, and there she was, here for a day’s work, she told him without emotion.

In a moment Rumpelstiltskin realised Belle had lost every memory of who and what they had been before, and he had lost the final piece of his heart.


End file.
